Virginia Pioneers - Virginia Genealogy

Monday, November 19, 2018

William Overton of London was married to a daughter of Samuel Waters and this ceremoney was recorded in the Parish of St. Sepulchre. Family tradition says that William Overton came to the Colony of Virginia in search of his father ca 1669, and failing to find him, remained in Hanover County. A year later, he brought over his fiancee whom he married onboard ship on November 24, 1670. It cost him 50 pds. of tobacco for her passage to America. In 1681 he received 4,600 acres of land on the Southside of the Pamunky River on Falling Creek for transporting 29 persons into the colony. In 1690 he was deeded addition land in St. Peter's Parish.

Accomack County, Virginia Genealogy, Wills, Estates

Accomac Shire was established in 1634 as one of the original eight shires of Virginia. The name comes from the Native American work Accawmack, meaning on the other side. In 1642 the name was changed to Northampton. Northampton was then divided into two counties in 1663. The northern section assumed the original Accomack name, the southern, Northampton. In 1670, the virginia Colony's Royal Governor William Berkeley abolished Accomack county, but the Virginia General Assembly re-created it in 1671. The justices of Accomac held their terms of court for many years at Pungoteague in the tavern belonging to John Cole, who did not charge for this use. In 1677 it was decided to erect a court-house where the majority of the freeholders chose. Cole, reminding the judges of his liberality, asserted that, having recently purchased the Freeman plantation, he was sure that it would offer a very convenient site for the projected county seat. He also offered to furnish thirty thousand bricks for the construction and also all of the timber. These bricks were to be burned on the spot by James Ewell, who was indebted to Cole. Three years passed and the projected structure had not been completed. In 1680, there was an order of the court directing Major Charles Scarborough to engage workmen at once to proceeding with the construction. Source: Letter of John Cole dated Dec. 20, 1677, Accomac County Records, vol. 1676-8, p. 97.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

New Kent County Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Probate Records, Marriages

Captain John Smith visited this area in 1607 and since that time many Europeans began immigrating into Virginia. New Kent County once formed part of Charles River County, one of the eight shires into which the colony of Virginia was divided in 1634. It originally included part or all of the present day counties of King & Queen, King William, Spotsylvania and Hanover, the modern day borders of New Kent took place in 1766 through exchange of land with James City County. Actually, researchers will see the mention of "Brick House". This was the first town and this was the seat of the first government. This historical site knows its history, starting with Nathaniel Bacon who, when the Governor refused to do anything about Indians who killed settlers and looted the area, formed his famous rebellion among his neighbors. The historical genealogy of the Bacon family is traced on Virginia Pioneers and is available to members. The village of New Kent appears to have been the County seat since 1691. Most of the County's colonial records were destroyed in the burning of the clerk's office in 1787, and later records were destroyed in the burning of Richmond during the Civil War. Providence Forge was one of the earliest settlements and the site of a colonial forge that was destroyed by Banister Tarleton during the Revolutionary War. Another site, St. Peter's Church at Talleysville was established in 1678 and built in 1701. It was enlarged in 1740 by the addition of a tower and vestry room and in the 1760's by the building of a north wing, believed to have been torn down in 1854. Martha Dandridge Custis who lived in White House on the Pamunkey, worshiped here at the time of her marriage to George Washington. The road leading from Richmond to Williamsburg is one oldest roads in America.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Johann Lederer was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1644 and studied medicine at the Hamburg Academic Gymnasium where he matriculated in 1662. In 1668 he immigrated to Virginia, well-versed in French, Italian and Latin in addition to German. However, he had to learn English. Lederer came to know the colonial Governor of Virginia, who believed, as other Europeans, that the passage westward could easily be traveled by sea. Sir William Berkeley who was anxious to find that passage to the West and the Indian Ocean. Therefore, he commissioned three expeditions expeditions into the Appalachian mountains. On 9 March 1669, Lederer left Chickahominy, an Indian village located near the headwaters of the York River and traveled northwest to Eminent Hill. During this expedition, Shenandoah County VA Ancestors

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Lowest Rate for Senior Genealogy

Georgia Pioneers is now offering a Subscription to 8 Genealogy Websites for the low, low rate of $75.00. It will be available throughout November and then the subscriptions to this good deal will be closed. For more details CLICK HERE

Friday, October 26, 2018

Sometimes it seems like there is little hope of finding records of the ancestors. The process is like unto an intricate puzzle of small pieces which do not seem to fit anywhere. Everyone has scaps of genealogical data on their surnames. But how do we find something more specific, something which will connect to our information? The answers lie in discovering the people in the neighborhood where your ancestor resided during a certain time period. They all connect, you know, whether as friends or relatives. The American past can be subdivided into eras and locations which is occupied by a specific group of people. The task is to assemble each family in family group sheets, regardless of whether they are in your direct line. If they have the same surname, a good practice is to consider them relatives and the only way to establish this is with family group sheets. Then, the marriages on these sheets help to establish relationships. It is a cousin thing. The sheets provide a place to enter the little scaps of paper. Eventually, we understand more about the relationships, which helps to eliminate certain people. Image sitting upon a front porch in a rural area. It is spring and the land is being plowed for planting. A neighbor has come to assist. On Sunday, this same neighbor is at church with his wife and children. Who do you suppose your children will marry? The answer is someone in this setting. That is why the names of witnesses to documents, such as deeds, marriages and old wills is so important. As the community grows and documents are recorded at the local court house, the neighborhood is being documented. Index to Virginia Wills and Estates

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

King William County Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Deeds, Court House Records

King William County, Virginia was created in 1702 from King and Queen County, Virginia and was named after William of Orange, King of England. The court house was built in 1725 and is the oldest court house in continuous use in the United States. The county seat is King William, which includes the metropolitan area of Richmond, Virginia. There was a court house fire in 1880 which apparently destroyed most of the probate records. The only surviving records found are four books of deeds, Nos. 5 through 8. The burnt portions of the pages were cut away and microfilmed. The deeds begin in 1800 and are published to this website.

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Discovering the past is interesting. It concerns earlier times and how people handled good and bad situations. Sometimes we think that we are in the worst of times, however, a glimpse into the past will awaken a new truth. The ancestors left foreign shores to come to America and hone out an existence in wilderness county full of hardships. For many centuries the average person lived to be about thirty or forty years of age. They died of disease and misfortune. Thousands moreIndex to Virginia Wills and Estates

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Do you like the idea of having your personal genealogist to research information?

Well, that is what members of Georgia Pioneers have.

Everybody needs more information for their family tree. I will save you time and trouble.

My new (FREE) research service will extract all of the records available in a specific county when you join Georgia Pioneers. Also, you will have a password to 8 Genealogy Websites (via Georgia Pioneers) which includes records in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia and access to over 700M records, which includes databases, my books, images of wills, estates, marriages, obituaries, pensions, passenger lists, cemeteries etc.

A request may be sent at any time during your membership. But first, JOIN HERE .

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

A Gentleman's Purse

Women did not carry pocketbooks during the 17th to late 19th century, but they had at least one pair of invisible pockets sewn underneath their petticoat. A pocket was a handy place to keep everyday implements, such as a pincushion, thimble, pencil case, knife and scissors, but so far as money was concerned, coinage was heavy. Many pockets were handmade and they were acquired from the local haberdasher and presented as gifts. Yet despite the effort to conceal pockets, many were stolen from women by cutting the strings. Thus the common phrase "pickpocket" described a thief. The gentlemen had pockets sewn into the linings of their coats, waistcoats and breeches. However, they did have a purse. My guess would be that gentlemen carried no more than five or six shillings in the purse. Fauquier County VA Ancestors. See Names.

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Social Media Mud Slides: The Shut Down of Google +

Social Media Mud Slides

The devotion to social media is becoming tedious. We are seeing our work go down the drain. The time and effort used to build communities and friendships is evaporating into a fine mist of nothing. Google + has announced that it shutting down its social media program.

Unfortunately, we genealogists have already lost most of our Facebook contacts. Unless you want to continuously pay for Facebook “boosts”, looks like the hey dey of sharing family history via Facebook is in a down hill mud spiral.

And the crashing down is not over. If you have inserted FB and Google+ icons on your webpage, it is time to remove them. Perhaps this is a bitter lesson for not adding fad media buttons.

I am urging my contacts to stay in touch by joining the Genealogy History Blog

A great deal of helpful tips and historical information is provided daily. Indeed, you will learn the names of persons who left wills and estates for a number of States and Counties, as well as some interesting details concerning historical events in which your ancestors participated. Just tons of information is available on this blog!

Also, there is a new social media out there which is free of ads and easy to post. I will be happy to answer genealogy questions on Mastodon.social. Actually, if it catches on, this is a good posting media for genealogists who are anxious to share and/or searching for answers.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Patrick Henry was born in 1736 in Hanover County. His father was a lawyer of much intelligence, and his mother belonged to a fine old Welsh family. When he was fifteen years old, his father put him into a country store where he tried his hand at store keeping, which failed. When finally he decided to practice law, after only studying for six months, he applied for admission to the bar. The new occupation of an lawyer served him well and in 1765, after the passage of the Stamp Act by the English Parliament, he went to Williamsburg to attend the session of the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he was elected a member. The countryside was stirred up by the news of the new Stamp Act. Most of the members of the House of Burgesses were wealthy planters, men of dignity and influence and spoke kindly of England as the "mother" of the colonies. But Patrick Henry was prepared and had written a series of resolutions upon the blank leaf taken from a law-book. He arose and offered them to the assembly. One of these resolutions declared that the General Assembly of the colony had the sole right and power of laying taxes in the colony. A hot debate followed, in the course of which Patrick Henry, ablaze with indignation, arose and addressed the body. His speech closed with these thrilling words: "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third... " Before he could finish the assembly shouted "Treason! Treason!" Pausing a moment in a fearless attitude, the young orator calmly continued, "...may profit from their example. If this be treason make the most of it." Henry was so persuasive that the resolutions were passed! Henry became popular for his orations and the challenge of defiance vibrated throughout America. The rhetoric encouraged the colonists to unite against the oppressive taxation of King George. As a whole, the English people did not support the King and some of its wisest statesmen believed he was making a great mistake in trying to tax the Americans without their consent. Said William Pitt, in a stirring speech in the House of Commons: "Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest."

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Now may be the time for you to join Virginia Pioneers.net ! More genealogy database has been added to Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia - all accessibl with the same password under "Georgia Pioneers". The largest addition by far is the Genealogy Vault which includes 3000+ traced families and Special Collections!
An extra available service to members (expires soon) is that I will personally research (FREE) the ancestor which whom you are experiencing the most problems and afterwards share it on the website to that others working on the same lineage may contact you and/or share their information. To take advantage, join below.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Questions Must be Answered

In Colonial Virginia landowners were in the necessary business of developing plantations as well as participating in civic affairs. Court Minutes reflect tons of interesting details. As all males over 21 years of age were required to do road work, notes are found concerning land marks and names of adjoining neighbors. Tithing was also required (tobacco) and participation in road improvements throughout the parish. Parish registers may not always locate a birth or marriage; yet it contains minute details surrounding the church grounds. For example, one can read the details of land "processioning" and, along with county tax records, figure out the location of family plantations. The tax digests will provide such information as rivers, timbers, and acreage, and the names of adjoining neighbors. If you are able to travel there and walk the land, real time visualization finds unopened doors to the past. There are many things to see in the landscape. Not only old dilapidated churches, but sinking graves, sunken tombstones, but the cause of death. Communities suffered epidemics of yellow fever, whooping cough, measles, etc., all reflected on the tombstones. In other words, a keen observation of the landscape and its almost unnoticeable lifestyles spread before your eyes, prompts questions. And questions must be answered.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

The Importance of Researching Records of the Chancery Court

George Walton was the son of Lord Walton of England and was in Brunswick County as early as 1732. He was appointed the King's Justice at the first Court held in Brunswick County; High Sheriff in 1734 and took the oath of Judge of the Chancery Court in 1746. He also served in the Virginia Colonial Militia of 1748. Genealogists should understand the functions of the Chancery Court. It was a court of equity in England and . . . more . . .

Genealogy Records in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Everyday Life in Colonial Days

Before the Revolutionary War, people were not allowed to be outside after dark. It was the night watchman's job to make sure that no one broke this rule. The colonists were required to attend church service or be punished. If a man stayed away from church for a month without a good excuse, he might be put in the stocks or into a wooden cage. No word could be spoken with impunity against the church or the rulers. He who used his tongue too freely was placed in the pillory or stocks, or was fined, and in some extreme cases he lost his ears. Additionally, tithing was mandatory, and Virginians furnished his local glebe with pds. of tobacco (used as currency). The local parish houses were primitive, first constructed with logs and oiled paper used for windows. Since there was no stove inside, women often carried foot-stoves, which, by definition were small sheet-iron boxes containing a few hot coals. The sermons lasted two hours or more and upon the pulpit stood an hour-glass, which a deacon would reverse when the sands of the hour had fallen through. Pews were hard, and sleeping was considered a serious offense. The minister, or a watchful tithingman, held a long stick prod which reached into the pews to awake people.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Arlington County Genealogy, Wills and Estates

Arlington County was originally part of Fairfax County . One of the original land grants was awarded to Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron . The name of Arlington comes from Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington whose name had been applied to a plantation along the Potomac River which was acquired (in 1802) by George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of First Lady Martha Washington. The estate was eventually passed down to Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of General Robert E. Lee became Arlington National Cemetery during the War Between the States when the U. S. Government confiscated the property of Robert E. Lee. The Commonwealth of Virginia passed the land to the United States Government with the Residence Act of 1790, approving a new capital city to be located on the Potomac River. The site was selected by President George Washington.

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About Me

After having researched multiple families from much has been learned about the pivotal roles which each o them played in building America. Everyone's ancestor whether in the history books or not, helped to build this country. I have probably traced over 100,000 names and am so familiar with the early colonists that I can just about open a discussion about any ancestor in the Southeast regions. If done properly, a tedious research will unfold the daily lives of each subject. I suppose that I am a fanatic now, however, an awareness of the experiences of your and my ancestors makes the history of America precious. I could sit down and talk (just about any) colonial ancestor with you. Hence, the desire to share my information with you. My researches are all heavily documented and I have discovered the intricate details which others cannot find. Jeannette Holland Austin www.georgiapioneers.com